First lady: 2014 election key

In a new video recorded for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, first lady Michelle Obama says Democrats need to take this year’s midterms more seriously than they did either of her husband’s presidential elections.

The video, her first effort on behalf of Democrats beyond a few scattered fundraisers so far, launches the DCCC’s 1millionvotesfor2014.com website, timed to coincide with the 100-day countdown until the elections.

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“When it comes to the midterm elections this November, we need you to be as passionate and as hungry as you were in 2008 and 2012 — in fact, you need to be even more passionate and more hungry to get Democrats elected to Congress, because these elections will be even harder and even closer than those presidential elections,” she says in the video, sent to donors Sunday morning in a fundraising email with her name on it that repeated the “commit to vote” theme throughout.

The first lady lists equal pay, immigration, an increase in the minimum wage and reproductive rights as the issues that need to get Democrats motivated.

“It’s simple: You deserve a Congress that will work for you and your family,” she says, urging people to go to the website and make voter commitments, as well as connect with local campaigning opportunities.

The video arrived between a Democratic National Committee fundraiser she did in Chicago on Thursday and a private roundtable she did in Washington on Monday.

“Make no mistake about it: Barack’s last campaign was not in 2012, Barack’s last campaign is this year, 2014,” she said last week in Chicago. “Because the election in 2012 wasn’t the change that we sought, it was only the chance to make that change.”